I finished getting ready, unplugged my phone from the charger and found a small packet of tissues that would fit into the pocket of my dress. My heart was racing as I went downstairs, hoping I wouldn’t see anyone on the way, and I was almost across the lounge when Rowan emerged out of the kitchen. She had changed again into a sleeveless maxi dress that shimmered and shifted like liquid silk, and held two long-stemmed glasses of champagne in her hands. She offered one to me.

‘We should start as we mean to continue,’ she said, clinking her glass against mine. ‘Cheers, Kate.’

‘Cheers,’ I said, summoning a smile as I took the glass.

‘You OK, honey?’

‘Just a bit tired from the journey.’

‘Nothing like a fine glass of bubbly to get you back on track.’

I took a sip of the champagne, the taste bitter on my tongue.

‘Definitely,’ I said, holding up my phone. ‘I’m just going down to the garden to call my mum. Let her know we’ve got here all right.’

It was a lie: I had already texted my mum to let her know we were here and settling in. But I needed a reason to be alone.

‘The restaurant is booked,’ Rowan said. ‘We’ll need to be summoning the troops in about an hour.’

‘Sure.’

I opened the sliding glass doors to the balcony and was instantly shrouded in the intense early evening heat, my racing pulse kicking up another gear. A wide stone staircase led down to the infinity pool, currently deserted, and a right turn took me out onto a lush green lawn that stretched the whole width of the property, with palm trees for shade and benches looking out across the vineyard. The smells were intoxicating: lilies bursting from the flower beds, eucalyptus and pine and summer heat baked into the earth. The garden was bordered by a neatly tended hedge with an iron gateway in the middle that gave on to the vineyard beyond. I glanced back at the house, spotting a small figure on one of the other first-floor balconies. I would know that mop of dark hair anywhere: Daniel, with Sean’s old camcorder held out in front of him. His lips moved as he narrated one of his holiday house films, a junior YouTuber in the making. My little miracle boy, who had arrived unexpectedly after three miscarriages – at a time when I was starting to resign myself to never having a second child.